Obama Warns Congress, Reassures Israel on Iran Deal

With the final nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 having been reached, Israel is naturally inconsolable, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting the pact is an “historic mistake,” and poses a threat to Israel going forward.

None of this is surprising. Israeli officials had made it clear they would not support any deal under any circumstances. Why this matters is because Israel has vowed an intense lobbying campaign to the US Congress to try to get them to dishonor the deal.

Though the deal is already reached, Congress granted itself 60 days to vote on the deal, and is expected to try to “veto” the deal. Getting sufficient votes in Congress to do this is going to be job one for Israel, and the Obama Administration’s efforts to sell Congress on the deal are going to largely be efforts to calm Israel down a bit.

To that end, the White House is assuring that irrespective of the deal, the US will continue to be mad at Iran for its “threats to Israel” and will continue to focus on that going forward. For months, the talk has been that the administration will eventually try to buy off Israel with a multibillion dollar military aid package.

With Congress, the effort is less conciliatory and more aggressive, with the White House “warning” Congressional leaders not to stand in the way of the Iran deal. The effort to keep Congress from blocking the Iran pact is going to center on Democrats, and the White House making a show of this being a partisan battle will be key to keeping Congressional Dems on board.

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